however, he didn't do that; he launched a war against a state that did not listen to american demands and hadn't for decades in order to dismantle a difficult state that the militants that attacked the united states had long wanted removed. instead of going after the terrorists, he did exactly what the terrorists wanted him to do. that war eventually extended to a regime change process in syria, which had the same baathist political movement in power.
i did not oppose the iraq war because it was an attack on muslims and i actually don't know anybody that held to that position, at the time. there may have been some backtracking near the end, but the baathists were officially secularists and iraq, despite it's problems, was using the state to redistribute resources in ways that the other states in the area (except syria) were not. iraq had the least muslim government in the middle east, which is exactly why they were targeted.
the arguments at the time were not in solidarity with islamic fundamentalism, which doesn't even make sense, but arguments that toppling the government would create issues with islamic fundamentalism, and that you can't enforce democracy with tanks, you have to let the people do it themselves.
what's happened in the last 20 years is that the liberal media has abandoned it's previous position on iraq, which was correct and principled, and replaced it with horrific talking points written by state media from islamic theocracies, that are in support of the movement for islamic fascism in the area. they've completely flip-flopped from opposing the removal of saddam hussein because it would lead to islamic fascism, which was universally seen as worse, to supporting the islamic fascists themselves on grounds of "religious freedom" and criticizing attempts to bomb or contain them by force. in the process, the liberal media has thoroughly aligned itself with contemporary fascism, and today acts as a mouth piece for fascist governments and as a vector for fascist propaganda, and has even helped generate fascist movements on the ground in the west.
frankly, i'm not even convinced that bush even understood what he did, but his daddy's goons, which he let back into power, took the opportunity to advance the aims of the muslim extremists that bombed him in removing the godless, unislamic, socialist government in iraq, which led to the country being taken over by religious lunatics, which is exactly what the saudis wanted.
obama then had to come in and try to contain the pandora's box that removing the baath party opened up and that is still wreaking havoc across the world. the point was to oppose that pandora's box from opening, and to oppose the forces it would unleash; but, today, the liberal media is aligning itself with the consequences of that pandora's box, and standing in solidarity with, and not in opposition to, the forces it unleashed.
my support for bombing isis is because i opposed toppling saddam hussein, and opposed toppling assad, who, together, were preventing gulf-backed islamic fascists from militarizing the region. i had a clear understanding of that at the time, and i have a clear understanding of the issue now.
i have always supported using the american military to fight the terrorists and i entirely understand that this is a conflict that will last for centuries, as other similar conflicts in history always did. this isn't a three year war, it's a generational conflict. yes. that's a correct observation, and that's the point; they're not going to give up in three years, they're going to keep trying to take over our secular society and enforce their dark age value systems, until we're able to wipe them out and force them to stop. i don't know what to tell people complaining that the war to save them from being enslaved by islam is taking too long, other than that fighting for one's freedom is not like buying fast food, and that things that matter sometimes take a long time. the criticism that we should give up and stop fighting for freedom because it is taking too long to win is amongst the most shallow and stupid arguments that i've ever heard, but you get what you deserve, in the end. if you don't want to fight for your way of life, don't be surprised if it's taken away from you.
i would continue to support overthrowing the governments in saudi arabia and iran, and i now would support overthrowing the al qaeda backed fascist dictatorship that took over syria and i would support driving the taliban out of afghanistan. my solidarity is with the forces of secularism, socialism and modernism. my solidarity is with the apostates fighting for freedom and democracy. i have always and will continue to condemn the religious groups trying to enforce their laws on people that don't want to follow them.